Logical cartridge upgrade for a long time Shure M44-7 user

@fstein budget is the only limit factor. 

well said @absolutlahmi 

M44-7 has extremely high output for MM cartridge ( 9.5 mV) , cheapest bonded conical stylus with rolled-off bass and highs. This cartridge is very popular on club scene, even after Shure officially discontinued this one and many other cartridges. Why it’s so popular ? The answer is OUTPUT and very good tracking abilities for professional use (DJing).

If you will buy a great MM or MI cartridge to replace your Shure M44-7 the output will be 2-5 mV (some MM/MI have lower output). Prepare for this, because loudness has nothing to do with the quality!

The best cartridges you can get for under $350 are Stanton 881s and Pickering XSV/3000. Both carts have nude Stereohedron stylus tip and sound like a mastertape. You will never find anything close to this (in the same budget) buying modern MM cartridges. If you can spend more there are better cartridges, but still not modern MM.

P.S. If you want to improve your M44-7 search for Jico S.A.S. (Super Analog Stylus), but this stylus will cost you like a whole new cartridge. I'm not sure they made SAS for M44-7, but you can email them and ask for SAS. 

Stanton cartridge must be with original Stereohedron stylus, you can't upgrade this cartridge with JICO, it is a downgrade. So when it comes to serious Stanton or Pickering models you'd better buy only original Stereohedron styli. 

  

@absolutlahmi  

You can read more about Pickering XSV/4000 on UKAM
This one is much better than Stanton 881s and Pickering XSV/4000
But more expensive, mainly because it's still sealed (NOS). 

Nick, look for Audio-Technica with MicroLine stylus if you want something new, relatively cheap and good sounding (not dark sounding like those cheap Conical m44-7). Stylus tip responsible for frequency response.

Better carts than new AT are those vintage MM or MI with advanced profiles. The best AT MM is AT-ML170 and AT-ML180 (absolutely killer carts).  

@Nickpish yes, the ML is MicroLine, try it, AT is reasobably priced MM. 

Nagaoka completely fails to extract that from the vinyl, it’s hard for me to buy into the idea of it being more ’musical’. I’d say the opposite.

Nagaoka MP110 made with BONDED Elliptical tip, Shure M44-7 made with BONDED Conical tip.

Nagaoka is Moving Permalloy cartridge (generator), Shure is a classic Moving Magnet but with extremely high output. 

As Jonathan Carr commented once: "The moving permalloy operating principle would be that of a Moving Iron but with increased sensitivity, which could be used alternatively to increase output, reduce moving mass, or decrease inductance."

You can definitely find much better cartridges than Nagaoka or Shure. I am not a fan of any of them too.

Ok, M2 Red is garbage, stay away from this one, in this series you could try Black. 
Within your budget at $300 or $350 (in my opinion) Stanton 881s or Pickering XSV-3000 (both with Stereohedron tip) are the best you can get, the sound is so sweet. 
An old Ortofon M20 FL (Fine Line tip) is best buy under $200 if you can find it (styli are still available new). 

Stanton and Pickering are still available NEW (NOS aka New Old Stock) from time to time and they are fine (this is really the best quality for lowest price today). Styli also available new (genuine). I rate them higher than Audio-Technica entry models with ML tip. A friend upgraded his M2 Red with Stanton 881s mkII and it was such a huge upgrade for him.

AT is definitely better than Ortofon in my opinion, my choice of AT is not in your price range, but i’m excited about AT-ML170 and AT-ML180 cartridges.

When someone who use CONICAL stylus (with rolled-off bass and high frequencies) comparing it to MICRO LINE stylus claiming the last one is bright, you have to admit that this person prefer colored rolled-off sound. Reading other forums you have to take in count that users of the m44-7 are often djs with average phono preamps in their mixers. You have to understand who post what. Most of the forums are useless and posters know nothing avout what they are posting.

Follow manufacturers recommendations from the manual of any cartridge, Technics tonearm is fine for AT cartridges (or any mid compliance cartridges). I have a pair of SL1210mk2 for more than 25 years and tried over 60 cartridges on those decks (including some of the best MM ever made). Technics is not in my main system, but I test all cartridges on SL1210mk2 first (with the headphones).

Shure M44-7 and Shure Whitelabel are the worst sounding cartridges, even $110 Grado DJ200i (MI) based on Grado Black is superior, not to mention a proper hi-fi cartridges that 10 times better than Grado!

It depends on your phono stage, tonearm and many other factors.
Some great MM can do as low as 5Hz up to 60kHz, it’s impossible without advanced profiles originally designed for Quadraphonic records (like Shibata). When a cartridge can do 10Hz (like this one) you don’t have to worry about bass at all, if you can’t get a proper bass from such cartridge then your phono stage is guilty, your tonearm, speakers and so on, but definitely NOT a cartridge. The main problem with cheap MM cartridges is rolled-off highs and this problem is much more serious than bass.

Pickering with Stereohedron stylus is superb at $300-400 range (NOS), read more here.

Don’t know what you expected from Schiit.
My recommendation is Australian made JLTi mk4 or mk5 with special mod from the manufacturer to expand optional MM loading up to 100k Ohm (he can do that by request). This phono stage is great for MC too. Optional RCA plugs is amazing feature to change cartridge loading.  

Shiit Mani is what I recommended to my 24 y.o. nephew for his first analog setup, but I can't recommend this cheap unit for serious listening to anyone of audiogon, it's just basics even in it was made in the USA, same about Rega and related cheap units, they are nothing special.  

JLTi is very special phono stage with long history, used mk4 is about $750 or even cheaper and this phono stage is outstanding in comparison to units that cost over $2k. The price on JLTi website is in Australian Dollars (not USD). 

This is the stage with RCA polug-in LOAD RESISTORS and user can make any value to load or unload MM or MC (for MM a special mod from the manufacturer required, but this mod is free). 

Anyway, if it's too expensive never mind, for someone else it can be a perfect choice. 

This is not a conventional phono stage, see below (from my chat with the manufacturer) to spread the light: 

"Have you noted there is a movement towards 'current mode' phono stages for MC cartridges? These are really only suitable for MC cartridges as they convert the higher current of MC and this only works for low impedance cartridges.

The JLTi Phono also uses 'current mode' but in a different way. Again, trying not to be too technical, it is a trans-conductance circuit where even the RIAA EQ takes place via current being dumped into the EQ components and from here forms the voltage that we finally end up listening to after it has been buffered and converted to low output impedance of the phono."